Director, Product Design

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California.

📋 Description

• Take ownership of the design for our most vital, intricate, and foundational platform experiences, setting the standard for all other work.

• Spearhead user research and discovery on the most challenging and unclear platform issues: engage with customers, synthesize their objectives, and convert insights into product opportunities. The innovative ideas you present to product leadership originate from this engagement, rather than from a presentation.

• Oversee the complete design process for these initiatives: discovery, exploration, prototyping, validation, and high-quality execution.

• Propose proactive ideas, opportunities, and prototypes to product and engineering leadership that shape the roadmap direction; do not merely respond to Product Briefs.

• Develop and refine the design language, interaction patterns, and AI-native frameworks that define Invoca's appearance, functionality, and user experience.

• Work at the intersection of design and front-end development: design in code where it increases efficiency, collaborate directly with engineers on implementation, and bridge the gap between design intent and the final product.

• Lead, mentor, and nurture a team of product designers: provide constructive feedback, help individuals grow into stronger designers, and cultivate a design culture that enhances quality with each iteration.

• Establish and maintain high-quality standards across every aspect of the platform; consistently review work to prevent subpar or inconsistent designs from being released.

• Ensure UX consistency at the platform level: guarantee that individual designers' contributions culminate in a coherent product rather than a disjointed set of features.

• Collaborate with PMs and tech leads to enhance design fluency across the broader product organization. Not every design decision will involve your team, and you will help ensure that those making decisions are well-equipped to do so.

• Define the operational framework for the design organization: rituals, critique culture, design operations, tooling, and the integration of AI-assisted workflows that align the team's velocity with the pace of AI-accelerated engineering.

• Extend this operational model beyond the design team: provide PMs, tech leads, and engineers with the frameworks, components, guidelines, and feedback mechanisms they need to make effective design decisions on projects that do not involve your team.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management & Engineering leadership as an equal partner in shaping strategy, prioritization, and the roadmap.

⛳️ Requirements

• Proven Player/Coach Experience: A minimum of 10 years in product design, with over 4 years in leadership and management roles for other product designers within a B2B SaaS or enterprise software context. You can showcase recent work that you have personally designed alongside the designers you have developed.

• A Compelling Portfolio: A portfolio that showcases exceptional craftsmanship in visual design, interaction design, and systems thinking, featuring clear examples of complex platform projects, rather than just marketing sites or one-off consumer products. Your portfolio illustrates both strategic scope and meticulous execution.

• Expertise in AI-First Design: Extensive, hands-on experience in designing AI-powered products, including agentic experiences, conversational interfaces, generative UI, and human-in-the-loop workflows. Your practice with contemporary AI design and prototyping tools is active and evolving, and you possess a clear perspective on how design teams should function given the changes in engineering velocity.

• Strong Research Skills: A hands-on approach to generative and evaluative research, including customer interviews, contextual inquiries, usability testing, and informal validation. You do not delegate discovery; your instincts have been honed from direct user engagement. You also know how to leverage AI to expedite synthesis and pattern recognition in qualitative data, and you have insights on its effective applications.

• Integration of Design and Engineering: Genuine comfort working at the intersection of design and front-end development, whether it involves designing in code, collaborating with engineers in the codebase, or establishing a model for design handoff in a landscape involving UX engineers and AI-assisted implementation. You have considered these aspects and have formed opinions.

• Strategic Innovator, Not Just Executor: Demonstrated experience in shaping product strategy and direction rather than solely executing it. Provide examples where your design thinking influenced the company's development decisions. You come equipped with ideas, not just reactive solutions.

• Depth in Enterprise Platform Design: Experience in designing for complex enterprise platforms serving multiple personas with significant configurability. You understand the distinction between creating designs that delight consumers versus those that serve enterprise utility, and you can balance both effectively.

• Clear Communicator: Capable of articulating design rationale clearly to executives, engineers, and customers. You deliver direct feedback thoughtfully, welcome it with curiosity, and can address challenging topics when necessary.

🏝️ Benefits

• Flexible Time Off – We promote a healthy work-life balance. Our flexible paid time off policy allows you to take the time you need to recharge.

• Paid Holidays – Invoca offers 20 U.S. paid holidays, including a winter break, providing ample opportunity to relax and spend time with loved ones.

• Health Benefits – Our healthcare plan includes medical, dental, and vision coverage, with various options available to suit your and your family's needs. Fertility assistance is also part of our offering.

• Retirement – Invoca provides a 401(k) plan through Fidelity with a company match of up to 4%.

• Stock Options – All employees are invited to participate in Invoca’s success through stock options.

• Mental Health Program – Comprehensive well-being support for a wide range of issues is available through our SpringHealth program.

• Paid Family Leave – Up to 12 weeks of 100% paid leave is offered for baby bonding, adoption, and caring for family members.

• Paid Medical Leave – Up to 12 weeks of 100% paid leave is available for childbirth and other medical needs.

• InVacation – As a gesture of appreciation for our long-term team members, we provide a bonus after 7 years of service.

• Wellness Subsidy – We offer a subsidy applicable toward gym memberships, fitness classes, and more.